I have recently finished one year's worth of photography courses and seminars. During this period I feel as if I have gained a different viewpoint of photography and the visual arts in general. But I am not quite sure if this change of perspective would have taken place regardless of whether I took the classes or not. Though I have to admit they were always pushing me in the right direction for further research and study.

Below are some of the shots I put in the course's portofolio:

"...our personalities are inextricably linked to the places that surround us. Every time we hang a poster on a wall or toss a coffee cup in the trash or download another album from iTunes, we leave clues about who we are. We broadcast our traits and values for people to see and perhaps to judge. And although we may attempt to arrange our stuff to outfox others, our true personalities inevitably leak out..." - Sam Gosling, Snoop: What Your Stuff Says about You

I guess I am all the stuff around me. Or that ever was around me. I am all the places I've been to, all the things I've seen. I am the people I've met and run across. Fun fact: did you know you only dream of people you've seen in real life? I am a blank slate filled with my past. We all are.

Meet Radu: a big computer screen, a gargoyle above the desk, watching over the room, antique Napoleon statuette, photography books and magazines, a small Buddha, a laptop, creams and oils, disc of Phestos, various fiction, natural and human sciences, philosophy and history books between two gargoyle bookends, terracotta chinese soldiers, swords, daggers and knives, and a small green gargoyle hugging his knees in the corner.

When I die will I be the things and people I leave behind?

Somewhere in October 2009 I wanted to make myself a nice gallery of all the pictures I had taken in the past year. That's when I realised that I had very little to show for such a long period of time. And not only were they very few, but they also were of quite low quality. So I decided to start a little project that I would call "365" (turned out to be more like "65") in which I would take a decent photo at least once a day for the rest of the year.

It really did get me motivated to drag the camera around with me and take shots whenever I could. I got 15.000 shots in a little over two months - most of them horrible. But it helped: it made me understand why the bad shots were... well, just that: bad. I gained a basic understanding of things like: contrast, lighting and colours.

What made me stop was that I wanted every day's shot to be more than just a nice picture, I wanted them to represent the day. This in mind, I will start a "365 v.2" pretty soon. And do it the right way this time.